Tag Archives: richard harding

Mikey Weinstein Accuses Air Force JAG of Being a Christian

In a recent interview with an obscure website, Michael “Mikey” Weinstein spontaneously began a religious assessment of Air Force leadership.  He first noted that Chief of Staff of the Air Force Gen David Goldfein is “ethnically Jewish.” It appears that being Jewish let Gen Goldfein off the hook, though, because Weinstein then laid into The JAG of the Air Force, LtGen Chris Burne, and his (alleged) religion:

But the Judge Advocate General of the Air Force is a three-star General named Christopher Burne who is either an Evangelical Fundamentalist Christian himself or a sympathizer. He’s the worst…TJAG that we’ve ever had, and he has a tremendous amount of sway over what happens there.

Weinstein had plenty of time to say something about the merits (or lack thereof) of these men, but chose instead to make their religion his qualification — and the target of his derision.

And Mikey Weinstein has the gall to accuse other people of being bigots.

To his credit, Read more

Harassed by Mikey Weinstein, Part 8: “DO SOMETHING!! PLZ”

Michael “Mikey” Weinstein learned early on that emailing threats to this site — a lot of emails — was ineffective. When his keyboard courage failed, Weinstein tried to have someone else do his work for him: His lawyers then threatened to sue ChristianFighterPilot.com. That, too, was futile, because — lawyer or not — Weinstein had no real argument beyond “Mikey doesn’t like you.”  Mikey Weinstein was doing little more than being a bully, and when his targets resisted, he quite naturally failed to follow through on his threats.

When his own courage failed, and when his lawyer subsequently failed, Mikey Weinstein then sought the aid of the US government to further his harassment.

Over the years, Mikey Weinstein has sent hundreds, if not thousands, of messages to the US military trying to get the military to join his attacks on ChristianFighterPilot.com. Most of his complaints have been passive-aggressive, as suits his style. A few have been demands.

One was a plea.

In 2013, the US Air Force censored an article written by an Air Force chaplain. The incident would ultimately come to represent one of the most effective stands against Mikey Weinstein by groups defending military religious freedom. The initial incident was covered here, in which this site noted the Air Force had chosen to publish an atheist article but prohibit a Christian one.

After the article went up on this site, Mikey Read more

Harassed by Mikey Weinstein, Part 7: You’re Being Watched

Michael “Mikey” Weinstein has demonstrated an obsession with ChristianFighterPilot.com — at least, insomuch as he wants to lodge complaints about this site mere minutes after content is published.

Presumably, the time he spends monitoring this site is part of the reason Mikey Weinstein has paid himself nearly $1.95 million to date from the donations his charity receives. It turns out, though, that he’s not the only one he drags into rapid-response.

It seems Mikey Weinstein has had his lawyer, Randy Mathis, on speed-dial. On 30 August 2011, an article was posted here entitled “Military Atheists Miss the Mark with Chaplain “Humor”“. The article discussed the “first act” of then-US Army Sergeant Justin Griffith, who had just become “military director” for American Atheists.

For his opening volley, Griffith had chosen to denigrate US military chaplains and their service — and sacrifice — to their country. The article rebutted his claims — noting, for example, that multiple chaplains had received the Medal of Honor.

Mikey didn’t like it.

The Air Force soon received a letter from Randy Mathis. Not Read more

Harassed by Mikey Weinstein, Part 4: Joy to the World

In light of last week’s US Air Force Band “flash mob” at the Smithsonian, it’s worth remembering that Michael “Mikey” Weinstein’s incessant email campaign of harassment against ChristianFighterPilot.com took no holiday. In his attempts to harass this site into bowing to his demands, Weinstein even tried to take the joy out of the Christmas season.

It was December 2013 when the US Air Force Band first famously “flash mobbed” the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. They played “Joy to the World.” This site recounted that event, complete with the video, here.

Mikey did not like it.

Weinstein emailed the Read more

Harassed by Mikey Weinstein, Part 1: Quoting the Bible

Michael “Mikey” Weinstein’s lawyers once claimed ChristianFighterPilot.com was “obsessive” about Weinstein and his MRFF. Naturally, ChristianFighterPilot.com is about military religious freedom — and it is surely relevant when Mikey Weinstein, a public figure, makes a living by publicly attacking religious liberty, as he so frequently does.

Instead, it is Mikey Weinstein who is “obsessive” with a few individual US troops, veterans, and even a couple of civilians — most of whom are private citizens unknown to any outside their circle of friends. The actions by Weinstein and those associated with his MRFF have attacked and threatened them, their employers, their families — sometimes even their children — in ongoing campaigns of harassment that have sometimes spanned years.

This series will document Mikey Weinstein’s history of harassment — in his own words, with his own formatting, filled with his own invective.

Harassed by Mikey Weinstein, Part 1: Quoting the Bible

In early 2014 a post entitled “There is but One Way” went up at ChristianFighterPilot.com saying one simple thing: John 14:6.

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

– John 14:6

Duly offended that a Bible verse would appear on the internet, Mikey Read more

Congressmen Call Air Force Religion Rules Unconstitutional

Update: Congressman Lamborn’s potential political rivals reacted, with Republican Bentley Rayburn, a retired Major General and 1975 USAFA graduate, saying Lamborn hasn’t done enough to support religious freedom at USAFA, while Democrat Irv Halter, also a retired Major General and 1977 USAFA graduate, says Lamborn has gone too far.

A few weeks ago congressmen asked the Secretary of the Air Force to document and explain the Air Force religious policy and its application at the US Air Force Academy, following USAFA’s command decision to pull down a Bible verse on a cadet’s whiteboard. As noted then and in a subsequent congressional hearing, the Air Force has relied heavily on AFI 1-1, a Chief of Staff level AFI published in the final days of General Norton Schwartz’s tenure in 2012.

Now, Congressman Doug Lamborn of Colorado (home to the US Air Force Academy) has written a letter signed by 22 other congressmen asking Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James to revise the policy at issue:

The August 2012 Air Force regulations which govern religious freedom and expression (AFI 1-1) are inconsistent with Congressional intent and current law…

The first issue Lamborn cites is the “undefinable” standard the Air Force uses [emphasis added]:  Read more

Shaw AFB Tries to Articulate Nativity Policy

Following the revelation that Shaw Air Force Base had removed a Nativity scene immediately following Michael “Mikey” Weinstein’s request, public outcry has left the Air Force “mulling” how to respond to the other side of the issue — those who view such a move as both unconstitutional and a questionably inappropriate relationship with Weinstein.

Though Weinstein was able to get action from the Air Force in “two hours and 15 minutes,” other normal Americans and a few reporters had trouble even getting a statement — which inspired Fox News columnist Todd Starnes to publish the (publicly available) phone numbers and emails of Shaw Public Affairs to see if others would have more success (they didn’t). This may be because most people did try to go through Public Affairs — while Weinstein had managed to get connected through the Base Command Post. (In what is unlikely a coincidence, Shaw AFB removed their Command Post phone number from their website yesterday.)

Shaw has subsequently clarified the situation, noting that a Shaw AFB chapel congregation put the Nativity up next to the Base Christmas tree, which Read more

President Obama Nominates New JAG of the Air Force

President Obama has nominated BGen Chris Burne to be the next The JAG of the Air Force (TJAG):

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel announced today that the president has made the following nominations:

Air Force Brig. Gen. Christopher F. Burne has been nominated for appointment to the rank of lieutenant general and for assignment as the judge advocate general, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Pentagon, Washington, D.C. Burne is currently serving as the staff judge advocate, Headquarters Air Combat Command, Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va.

Like the retiring LtGen Richard Harding, whom he will replace, BrigGen Burne will skip his second star and go directly to his third.

General Harding is one of the last senior officers from the tenure of former Chief of Staff General Norton Schwartz — and one of the last to have a long running, if tenuous, relationship with military religious freedom critic Michael “Mikey” Weinstein. (General Read more

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